2009 Summer Institutes

This course is an intensive study of the Constitutional Convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of The Federalist and the Anti-Federalist papers.

A study of the sectional conflict beginning with the nullification crisis. The course will not only examine the political, social and economic developments in the period leading to the Civil War, but will emphasize the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and John C. Calhoun.

One way citizens of large republics are educated in the principles of government is through novels. With this in mind, this course examines selections from the work of Mark Twain. Not only is Twain America’s most enduringly popular author, but his novels depict important aspects of the American character and have much to say about such themes as equality, slavery, freedom, modern science, Christianity, and democratic leadership, all of which are crucial for understanding American history and politics. Our main texts will be Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; if time permits, we will also consider The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson.

This course will explore the history of black Americans as they strove to secure their dignity as human beings, and rights as American citizens, in the face of racial prejudice. It will examine the diverse viewpoints of leading black intellectuals and activists on human equality, slavery, self-government, the rule of law, emancipation, colonization, and citizenship. Contemporary issues to be considered may include affirmative action, black reparations, racial profiling, and the “achievement gap” in education.

AHG 660A: Topics in American History and Government – The United States at War: 1845-1865 <!–(Syllabus; PDF Syllabus–>) — Elective

This course examines American strategy and operational art during the middle part of the nineteenth century. During the first part of the course, we will look at the development of American grand strategy during the era of the early Republic, based on an understanding of America’s place in the world, the genesis of the war with Mexico, the strategy and major campaigns of the Mexican War, and the way that Mexico prepared the generation of officers who led the armies of both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. During the second part, we will examine the strategy and campaigns of the Civil War. Civil-military relations in a republic is a major thread that runs throughout the course.

This course will examine military aspects of the war, as well as political developments during it, including the political history of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural. The course also examines the post-war amendments and the Reconstruction era.

The transition to an industrial economy posed many problems for the United States. This course examines those problems and the responses to them that came to be known as progressivism. The course includes the study of World War I as a manifestation of progressive principles. The course emphasizes the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and their political expression of progressive principles.

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) is the great American novel about race, perhaps even the great American novel. It considers and affirms the principle—that “mysterious binding force”—that holds us together as a people and that is tied to our own history. In doing so it raises all the important political questions about equality, freedom, rights and justice; the legacy of slavery and white supremacy, our “human and absurd diversity.” The novel’s deliberate attempt, in Ellison’s words, “to return to the mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy” makes perfectly clear the connection between literature and politics. The seminar will also consider a few of Ellison’s essays bearing directly on Invisible Man.

This course examines the lives, character, political thought and political practice of two of America’s leading thinkers and statesmen, viz., James Madison and John Adams. We will pay close attention to their understanding of constitutions, liberty, and republican government, in both theory and practice.

This course examines the development of American political parties, focusing on the meaning of parties and historic moments in the rise and fall of political parties from the Founding era to the present. Topics may include re-aligning elections, changing coalitions within American parties, and the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties.

This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

Abraham Lincoln wove his words into the fabric of American history. In the twenty-first century, Lincoln’s political language remains more contemporary than all but the most timeless of the political language of the American Founding. This course is a study of selected Lincoln speeches aiming to illuminate Lincoln’s understanding of the relation of the principles of the American Founding to the most pressing issues of his day.

Alexis de Tocquevilles Democracy in America is the best study of America to be written by a foreigner. It examines government, religion, the races, private associations, literature, the family, and much else, all the while contrasting democratic America with old aristocratic Europe. This course will examine as much of the book as we can, focusing especially on Tocquevilles account of the love of equality (and its dangers) and his prescriptions for the preservation of liberty.

In the 1920s, changes in America that had been underway for several decades came fully into view. This is the period when cultural wars first appeared (e.g., The Scopes Trial) and the transformative effects of industrial capitalism touched every part of American life. In the 1930s, an economic crisis challenged received views of the proper relationship of the government to the economy. The course examines various political and economic changes that occurred in this period, with a special emphasis on the New Deal.

This course examines the lives, character, political thought and political practice of two of America’s leading thinkers and statesmen, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. The sources and circumstances of the political philosophy of each will be surveyed, along with an assessment of where each succeeded and failed to attain his objectives, and areas where a full verdict is more difficult to reach.

This course is an examination of the political and constitutional development of the office of president from the Founding era through the Civil War. It focuses on how the presidency shaped American political life as the country grew and struggled with rising sectional tensions.

This course is an intensive study of the Constitutional Convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of The Federalist and the Anti-Federalist papers.

Having adopted a form of government, the Americans had to make it work. This course examines their efforts to do so, as the Republic took shape amidst foreign dangers, political conflict, westward expansion and religious revivals.

This course examines the political actions and thought of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, arguably the two most important founders of the American republic. In their lifetimes, Hamilton and Jefferson understood themselves to have opposed understandings of what was good for America. We will explore this opposition and what it meant and means for the American Republic by studying what Hamilton and Jefferson had to say and what they did about the great issues of their day.

AHG 660B: Topics in American History and Government – Westerns <!–(Syllabus; PDF Syllabus)–> — Elective***CLASS CLOSED***

This course is an intensive study of several classic American Westerns, in both print and film. The American Western reflects something fundamental about both the American mind and the American regime. The Western’s emphasis on courage and self-reliance, for example, arises from that same American character that forms the basis of self-government. The American Western also raises important questions central to American political life, among which are the meaning of justice, equality, and liberty. This course will also address the question of how American politics both influences and is influenced by literature in the Western genre.

This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

This course will examine military aspects of the war, as well as political developments during it, including the political history of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural. The course also examines the post-war Amendments and the Reconstruction era.

The transition to an industrial economy posed many problems for the United States. This course examines those problems and the responses to them that came to be known as progressivism. The course includes the study of World War I as a manifestation of progressive principles. The course emphasizes the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and their political expression of progressive principles.

Abraham Lincoln wove his words into the fabric of American history. In the twenty-first century, Lincoln’s political language remains more contemporary than all but the most timeless of the political language of the American Founding. This course is a study of selected Lincoln speeches aiming to illuminate Lincoln’s understanding of the relation of the principles of the American Founding to the most pressing issues of his day.

From the time that the first Europeans arrived in America, religion has been an important part of American life. This course examines the various ways in which religion has played a role in American history, with particular emphasis on the role of religion in American politics.

This course focuses on the legislative branch of the U.S. government. It examines topics such as the constitutional powers of Congress, the relations between Congress and the other branches of the federal government and the states, and the changing structure and internal politics of Congress.

This course is an intensive study of the constitutional convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of The Federalist and the Anti-Federalist papers.

A study of the sectional conflict beginning with the nullification crisis. The course will not only examine the political, social and economic developments in the period leading to the civil war, but will emphasize the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and John C. Calhoun.

The Federalist is a complex political work comprised of arguments about war, economics, national unity, and liberty (among other things) based on appeals to human nature, history, reason, and prudence. In this course we will examine and discuss The Federalist as fully and as deeply we can, aiming to understand how (or whether) its parts fit together in a coherent whole and its enduring contribution to our understanding of politics.

This course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court’s power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. We will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions.